Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered on the evening of Saturday March 11 in Israel, for the tenth consecutive week, to protest against the reform of the judicial system that the government is trying to impose.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's right-wing and far-right coalition is preparing to speed up the legislative process from Sunday, the first day of the week in Israel, to push through this reform, considered undemocratic by its detractors.
As on previous Saturdays, the main rally takes place in central Tel Aviv where protesters, numbering more than 100,000 according to media reports, waved a wave of blue and white Israeli flags.
Other demonstrations are taking place in the main cities of the country.
Reform that threatens democracy
According to Israeli media estimates, the rallies this Saturday broke attendance records in the cities of Haifa (north) and Beer Sheva (south), with 50,000 and 10,000 people respectively, significant figures reported to the Israeli population , just over nine million inhabitants.
The Israeli police do not provide estimates of the number of protesters.
Knesset (Parliament) Law Committee Chairman Simcha Rothman has scheduled hearings on the judicial reform bill every day from Sunday to Wednesday.
He thus seems to reject the calls to slow down or interrupt the examination of the texts in the Knesset to allow compromise negotiations and to stick strictly to the timetable he had announced with the Minister of Justice Yariv Levin.
Read alsoIsrael: Netanyahu challenged on several fronts
This timetable provides for the adoption of the main elements of the reform before the end of the winter session of the Knesset, on April 2.
This reform would considerably limit the Supreme Court's ability to invalidate laws and would effectively give the majority political coalition the power to appoint judges.
On Thursday evening, Israeli President Isaac Herzog called for a halt to the legislative process on the judicial reform bill, calling it a "
threat to the foundations of democracy
".